Movement of Workers Gathers Pace in Gujarat

May 5, 2020, Gandhinagar: The transportation of migrant workers from Gujarat to their native states is picking up pace. On Tuesday, a total of 12 Shramik special trains left the state with more than 14,000 migrant workers.

“A dozen more trains are planned to leave from Surat and Ahmedabad to these states with over 14,600 migrant workers today,” said Vipul Mittra, additional chief secretary, Labour and Employment department, and the state’s nodal officer to facilitate transportation of migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims, students, and others to their native states by train.

Mittra said that they are streamlining the movement of workers in coordination with Railways and the governments of Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, Tamilnadu and plan to increase the number of special trains to 20 per day in a couple of days.

“We are ensuring strict compliance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Each train is carrying only about 1,200 workers, which is half the capacity, to ensure that social distancing can be maintained,” he said.

On Monday, the state government asked district collectors to prepare a plan for the movement of workers for the next seven days. It was also decided to deploy government labor officers at major railway stations to facilitate the movement of workers.

“The trains are being run on a point-to-point basis and host states are being provided details of passengers so as to enable them to make logistical arrangements upon workers’ arrival,” Mittra added.